Tammy Wynette: 5 Husbands - Much-married celebs - Pictures - CBS News Next Mickey Rooney: 9 Wives Actor Mickey Rooney and his wife, Jan, arrive at the 81st Academy Awards at the Kodak Theater in Hollywood, Calif. on Feb. 22, 2009. Although Jan is the actor's ninth wife, the former child star has been married to her since 1978, longer than all his other marriages combined. Rooney's first marriage was in 1942 to Hollywood actress Ava Gardner. It ended in divorce as did all his other marriages except the one to Barbara Ann Thompson, who was murdered in 1966. Credit: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images Zsa Zsa Gabor: 9 Husbands Ailing actress Zsa Zsa Gabor had eight husbands before she wed Prince Frederic von Anhalt in 1986, who has been at her bedside during her recent illnesses. The Hungarian-born star took her first husband when she was 20 in 1937. Her ex-husbands included the late Conrad Hilton, great-grandfather of Paris Hilton and founder of the Hilton hotel chain.

She had her only child, a daughter, with Hilton. Her first seven marriages ended in divorce; her marriage to her eighth husband, Mexican attorney Felipe de Alba, was annulled, reportedly because her previous marriage was not properly ended. One of three famous sisters, Gabor apparently came from a marrying family. Her sister Eva took five trips down the aisle. Credit: AP Elizabeth Taylor: 7 Husbands Academy Award-winning actress Elizabeth Taylor, who died in 2011, was married eight times but had only seven husbands. She was married twice (in 1964 and 1975) to fellow actor Richard Burton whom she met on the set of "Cleopatra" while both were married to others. She took her first husband, Conrad Hilton Jr. (the hotel founder's son) when she was 18. She also was married to actor Michael Wilding, producer Mike Tiodd, singer Eddie Fisher, Sen. John Warner and construction worker Larry Fortensky. Todd was killed in a plane crash; the other marriages ended in divorce.

Credit: AP Photo/Christie's Larry King: 7 Wives Talk show host Larry King answers reporters' question at a press conference for Seoul Digital Forum in Seoul, South Korea, May 25, 2011. He has been married eight times to seven different women, His current wife, singer Shawn Southwick, filed for divorce in 2010 but later withdrew the suit when the two reconciled. King was just 18 when he made his first trip down the aisle in 1951 with his high school sweetheart in a marriage that later was annulled. He was to repeat that journey seven more times with six other women. Former Playboy bunny Alene Akins was both his third and fifth wife.

Credit: AP Photo/Lee Jin-man Lana Turner: 7 Husbands Kirk Douglas and Lana Turner dance in a scene from Vincente Minnelli's 1953 film "The Bad and the Beautiful." The actress, who died in 1995 at age 75, was married and divorced eight times between 1940, when she took her first husband, bandleader Artie Shaw, and 1972, when she divorced seventh husband Ronald Pellar. Her marriage to second husband Stephen Crane was annulled after just a few months and was followed a month later by a second wedding to him. He was the father of her only child. Credit: AP Photo Jerry Lee Lewis: 7 Wives Jerry Lee Lewis, a rock 'n' roll pioneer, has been married seven times, including once to a 13-year-old first cousin. The backlash from that marriage - his third - almost killed his career. Lewis has said in interviews he was 14 when he first married and his wife was 17. His fourth wife drowned in a swimming pool and his fifth wife died of a methadone overdose.

He was divorced from the others, except for his current wife, Judith Brown, whom he married in March of 2012. Credit: Noel Vasquez/Getty Images Gregg Allman: 6 Wives Musician Gregg Allman, founding member of the Allman Brothers band, has had six wives, including singer/actress Cher, with whom he had a son, Elijah Blue. Allman, who writes about his marriages and ex-wives, in his new memoir "My Cross to Bear," has announced his engagement to Shannon Williams, a woman 40 years his junior. Credit: Toby Canham/Getty Images Rex Harrison: 6 Wives British actor Rex Harrison, best known as Henry Higgins in the movie "My Fair Lady," is seen with Elizabeth Taylor in Vienna on Nov. 2, 1976. Harrison was married six times, including to actresses Lilli Palmer (his second wife) and Kay Kendall (his third wife). Kendall's 1959 death left Harrison a widower and his 1990 death left sixth wife Mercia Tinker a widow. The other marriages ended in divorce. Credit: AFP/Getty Images Tony Curtis: 6 Wives Actor Tony Curtis, who died Sept.

29, 2010, had six wives, beginning with "Psycho" actress Janet Leigh. The couple divorced in 1962 after 11 years of marriage amid reports of Curtis' affair with co-star Christine Kaufmann, who became his second wife. Credit: AP Photo Joan Collins: 5 Husbands Actress Joan Collins arrives at Clive Davis and the Recording Academy's 2012 Pre-Grammy Gala and Salute to Industry Icons on Feb. 11, 2012, in Beverly Hills, Calif. The British-born "Dynasty" star has been married to current husband Percy Gibson since 2002. But before that, she was married and divorced four times. Previous spouses included Irish actor Maxwell Reed, award-winning singer, actor and film composer Anthony Newley and Swedish singer Peter Holm. Her current husband is 32 years younger than she. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Martin Scorsese: 5 Wives Oscar-winning filmmaker Martin Scorsese arrives at the 84th Academy Awards Nominations Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton hotel on Feb. 6, 2012.

The New York director has been married to Helen Morris since 1999, but he had four divorces in his history when they hooked up. Among his previous spouses was actress Isabella Rossellini to whom he was married from 1979 to 1983. Credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images Billy Bob Thornton: 5 Wives "Sling Blade" actor Billy Bob Thornton has said he probably won't marry again because marriage doesn't seem to work for him. He should know - he's tried it five times. His most famous ex-wife is his last one, actress Angelina Jolie, to whom he was married from 2000 to 2002. He also was married to actresses Toni Lawrence and Cynda Williams and to Playboy model Pietra Dawn Cherniak. For the last decade, he has been involved with makep artist Connie Angland, with whom he has a daughter.

Credit: Marsaili McGrath/AP Images Tammy Wynette: 5 Husbands Country singer Tammy Wynette is seen on the cover of her 1968 hit "Stand By Your Man." Wynette, who died in 1998, was married five times, including one six-year union (1969 to 1975) with fellow country singer George Jones. When she died, she had been married more than 20 years to singer/songwriter George Richey, who also served as her manager. Credit: Epic Records Kenny Rogers: 5 Wives Singer/songwriter Kenny Rogers performs at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum's Ford Theater on May 10, 2012, in New York. The 73-year-old musician has been married five times with four divorces. His ex-wives include actress Marianne Gordon, whom he wed in 1977 and divorced 1993. He married current wife Wanda Miller in 1997. Credit: Rick Diamond/Getty Images Larry Flynt: 5 Wives Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt arrives at the premiere of a documentary on his life on Oct.

26, 2007. Flynt has been married five times, most recently to current wife Elizabeth Berrios, whom he wed in 1998. He married his fourth wife Althea in 1976 and they remained married until her death in 1987. Credit: AP Photo George Foreman: 5 Wives George Foreman shows off his Hall of Fame ring during the International Boxing Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canastota, N.Y., June 8, 2003. The former World Heavyweight Champion, who has been married to Mary Joan Martelly since 1985, had four other wives. He also has 11 children, including five sons, all named George. Credit: AP Photo Dennis Hopper: 5 Wives "Easy Rider" actor and director Dennis Hopper, who died in 2010, was notorious for his relationships with women, including second wife, Mamas and the Papas singer Michelle Phillips, who filed for divorce after just 100 days of marriage. Hopper was in the process of divorcing his fifth wife, Victoria Duffy, when he died.

Credit: AP Photo Geraldo Rivera: 5 Wives Televison personality Geraldo Rivera walks on a New York street on Dec. 9, 2002. He has been married five times and divorced four times. His married his current wife, Erica Michelle Levy, in 2003 and they have a daughter together. Rivera has four other children. His ex-wives include painter Edith Vonnegut, whose father was novelist Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. Credit: AP Henry Fonda: 5 Wives Screen legend Henry Fonda is seen performing on a New York stage in 1970. The Oscar-winning actor and father of actors Jane Fonda and Peter Fonda had five wives including actress Margaret Sullivan, his first wife. Second wife Frances Ford Seymour Brokaw was the mother of his two natural children; he also adopted a daughter with third wife Susan Blanchard. Fonda was married to fifth wife, Shirlee Mae Adams, when he died in 1982. Credit: AFP/Getty Images Danielle Steele: 5 Husbands Novelist Danielle Steele arrives at Clive Davis' pre-Grammy party on Feb.

11, 2012, in Los Angeles. The best-selling romance author is currently unattached, but she has been married and divorced five times. Her most recent ex-husband was financier Tom Perkins, whom she divorced in 2002 after four year s of marriage. Credit: Getty Images Eddie Fisher: 5 Wives Actress Debbie Reynolds and singer Eddie Fisher smile following their wedding in Grossinger, N.Y., on Sept. 26, 1955. Reynolds was Fisher's first wife, whom he divorced in 1959 to marry Elizabeth Taylor, the widow of his friend Mike Todd. Taylor dumped Fisher five years later to marry her "Cleopatra" co-star- Richard Burton. Fisher, who died in 2011, was also married to - and divorced from - Connie Stevens and Terry Richard. He tied the knot with fifth wife Betty Lin in 1993 and they were still married when she died on April 15, 2001.

Credit: AP Photo/Marty Lederhandler, File John Huston: 5 Wives Legendary film director John Huston, pictured here in the 1980s, was married five times. Four of his marriages ended in divorce. His fourth wife, Soma, died during their marriage. Huston, who died in 1987, had three children, including actors Anjelica Huston and Danny Huston. He also had a step-daughter and an adopted son. Credit: AFP/Getty Images Ernest Borgnine: 5 Wives Ernest Borgnine was married five times during his life. He was first married to Rhoda Kemins, from 1949-1958. Borgnine was married to actress Katy Jurado from 1959-1963. In 1964, he married actress Ethel Merman. The union barely lasted a month - she filed for divorce 32 days later. He then married Donna Rancourt in 1965. Borgnine's fifth and final marriage, in 1973 to Tova Traesnaes, was the one that endured.

George Jones, country superstar, dies at 81 | Fox News George Jones, country superstar, dies at 81 Published April 26, 2013 Facebook 0 Twitter 0 Email Print George Jones, the peerless, hard-living country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaking classic "He Stopped Loving Her Today," has died. He was 81. Jones died Friday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville after being hospitalized with fever and irregular blood pressure, according to his publicist Kirt Webster. With one of the most golden voices of any genre, a clenched, precise, profoundly expressive baritone, Jones had No. 1 songs in five separate decades, 1950s to 1990s. He was idolized not just by fellow country artists, but by Frank Sinatra, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, James Taylor and countless others. "If we all could sing like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones," Waylon Jennings once sang. "My heart is absolutely broken. George Jones was my all time favorite singer and one of my favorite people in the world.

My heart goes out to Nancy and all his family and friends," fellow country star Dolly Parton said. In a career that lasted more than 50 years, "Possum" evolved from young honky-tonker to elder statesman as he recorded more than 150 albums and became the champion and symbol of traditional country music, a well-lined link to his hero, Hank Williams. Jones survived long battles with alcoholism and drug addiction, brawls, accidents and close encounters with death, including bypass surgery and a tour bus crash that he only avoided by deciding at the last moment to take a plane. More On This... Country superstar George Jones has died His failure to appear for concerts left him with the nickname "No Show Jones," and he later recorded a song by that name and often opened his shows by singing it. His wild life was revealed in song and in his handsome, troubled face, with its dark, deep-set eyes and dimpled chin. In song, he was rowdy and regretful, tender and tragic.

His hits included the sentimental "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes," the foot-tapping "The Race is On," the foot-stomping "I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair," the melancholy "She Thinks I Still Care," the rockin' "White Lightning," and the barfly lament "Still Doing Time." Jones also recorded several duets with Tammy Wynette, his wife for six years, including "Golden Ring," ''Near You," ''Southern California" and "We're Gonna Hold On." He also sang with such peers as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and with Costello and other rock performers. But his signature song was "He Stopped Loving Her Today," a weeper among weepers about a man who carries his love for a woman to his grave. The 1980 ballad, which Jones was sure would never be a hit, often appears on surveys as the most popular country song of all time.

Jones won Grammy awards in 1981 for "He Stopped Loving Her Today" and in 1999 for "Choices." He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 and in 2008 was among the artists honored in Washington at the Kennedy Center. Jones continued to make appearances and put out records, though his hit records declined. "I don't want to completely quit because I don't know what to do with myself," he said in 2005. "I'll be out there as long as the people want me to be out there." Jones was a purist who lamented the transformation of country music from the family feeling of the 1950s to the hit factory of the early 21st century. He was so caught up in country, old country, that when a record company executive suggested he record with James Taylor, Jones insisted he had never heard of the million selling singer-songwriter. He was equally unimpressed when told that Neil Young had come to visit backstage and declined to see him, saying he didn't know who he was.

He did listen to the Rolling Stones, only because of the guitar playing of Keith Richards, a country fan who would eventually record with Jones. Asked about what he thought about Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and other young stars, Jones said they were good but they weren't making traditional country music. "What they need to do really, I think, is find their own title," he said. In 1991, country star Alan Jackson dedicated his hit song "Don't Rock the Jukebox" to Jones, asking in the song that country music remain faithful to the Jones style instead of drifting toward rock 'n' roll. Jones was born Sept. 12, 1931, in a log house near the east Texas town of Saratoga, the youngest of eight children. He sang in church and at age 11 began performing for tips on the streets of Beaumont, Texas. His first outing was such a success that listeners tossed him coins, placed a cup by his side and filled it with money. Jones estimated he made more than $24 for his two-hour performance, enough to feed his family for a week, but he used up the cash at a local arcade.

"That was my first time to earn money for singing and my first time to blow it afterward," he recalled in "I Lived to Tell it All," a painfully self-critical memoir published in 1996. "It started what almost became a lifetime trend." The family lived in a government-subsidized housing project, and his father, a laborer, was an alcoholic who would rouse the children from bed in the middle of the night to sing for him. His father also noted that young George liked music and bought him a Gene Autry guitar, with a horse and lariat on the front, that Jones practiced on obsessively. He got his start on radio with husband and wife team Eddie & Pearl in the late 1940s. Hank Williams once dropped by the studio to promote a new record, and Jones was invited to back him on guitar. When it came time to play, he froze. "Hank had 'Wedding Bells' out at the time," Jones recalled in a 2003 Associated Press interview. "He started singing it, and I never hit the first note the whole song.

I just stared." After the first of his four marriages failed, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1951 and served three years. He cut his first record when he got out, an original fittingly called "No Money in This Deal." He had his first hit with "Why Baby Why" in 1955, and by the early '60s Jones was one of country music's top stars. "I sing top songs that fit the hardworking, everyday loving person. That's what country music is about," Jones said in a 1991 AP interview. "My fans and real true country music fans know I'm not a phony. I just sing it the way it is and put feeling in it if I can and try to live the song." Jones was married to Wynette, his third wife, from 1969 to 1975. (Wynette died in 1998.) Their relationship played out in Nashville like a country song, with hard drinking, fights and reconciliations.

Jones' weary knowledge of domestic warfare was immortalized in such classics as "The Battle," set to the martial beat of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." After one argument, Jones drove off on a riding mower in search of a drink because Wynette had taken his car keys to keep him from carousing. Years earlier, married to his second wife, he had also sped off in a mower in search of a drink. Jones referred to his mowing days in the 1996 release, "Honky Tonk Song." His drug and alcohol abuse grew worse in the late '70s, and Jones had to file for bankruptcy in 1978. A manager had started him on cocaine, hoping to counteract his boozy, lethargic performances, and Jones was eventually arrested in Jackson, Miss., in 1983 on cocaine possession charges. He agreed to perform a benefit concert and was sentenced to six months probation. "In the 1970s, I was drunk the majority of the time," Jones wrote in his memoir. "If you saw me sober, chances are you saw me asleep." In 1980, a 3-minute song changed his life.

His longtime producer, Billy Sherrill, recommended he record "He Stopped Loving Her Today," a ballad by Curly Putnam and Bobby Braddock. The song took more than a year to record, partly because Jones couldn't master the melody, which he confused with Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make it Through the Night," and partly because he was too drunk to recite a brief, spoken interlude ("She came to see him one last time/And we all wondered if she would/And it kept running through my mind/This time he's over her for good.") "Pretty simple, eh?" Jones wrote in his memoir. "I couldn't get it. I had been able to sing while drunk all of my life. I'd fooled millions of people. But I could never speak without slurring when drunk. What we needed to complete that song was the narration, but Billy could never catch me sober enough to record four simple spoken lines." Jones was convinced the song was too "morbid" to catch on. But "He Stopped Loving Her Today," featuring a string section that hummed, then soared, became an instant standard and virtually canonized him.

His concert fee jumped from $2,500 a show to $25,000. "There is a God," he recalled. In 1983, Jones married his fourth and final wife, Nancy Sepulveda, whom he credited with stablizing his private life. He had four children, one with first wife Dorothy Bonvillion, two with second wife Shirley Ann Corley and one with Wynette. His daughter with Wynette, Georgette Jones, became a country singer and even played her mother in the 2008 TV series "Sordid Lives." "I feel such a personal loss of not only one of the greatest vocal influences of my life, but also I've lost a dear friend," country star Travis Tritt said in a statement. "His legacy will put his name at the top of the most influential artists in history, right along with Hank Williams, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. His voice will be influencing singers 100 years from now and beyond!" The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Advertisement George Jones - The Window Up Above : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive George Jones - The Window Up Above Audio Preview Share or Embed this Item EMBED <iframe src="" width="560" height="384" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen="true" mozallowfullscreen="true" allowfullscreen></iframe> EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs) [archiveorg GeorgeJones-TheWindowUpAbove width=560 height=384 frameborder=0 webkitallowfullscreen=true mozallowfullscreen=true] audio George Jones - The Window Up Above Topics George Jones , The Window Up Above , CCMR TV Country , Rocky Thomas , CCMR TV , CCMR , audio From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia George Glenn Jones (born September 12, 1931) is an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette. Over the past 20 years, Jones has frequently been referred to as "the greatest living country singer." Country music scholar Bill C.

Malone writes, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved." Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname "No Show Jones." With the help of his fourth wife, Nancy, he has been sober for many years. Jones chalked up more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists. Early life George Glenn Jones was born on September 12, 1931 in Saratoga, Texas and raised in Vidor, Texas, along with his brother and five sisters (another sister died young before George was born),[ and was exposed to music from an early age from his parents' record collection and listening to the gospel music he heard in church or in a barn. When George was seven the Jones family bought a radio which introduced George to the country music that would become his life.

The gift of a guitar when Jones was a boy of nine soon saw him busking for money on the streets of his hometown of Beaumont. Jones left home at 16 and headed for Jasper, Texas where he found work singing and playing on a local radio station. Before he was out of his teens he married his first wife, Dorothy, but their union didn't last a full year and Jones joined the United States Marine Corps. Despite the Korean War being fought at the time Jones was not sent overseas; instead, he sang in bars near his base in California. After leaving the Marine Corps his music career took off. Marriages Jones was married twice before he turned 24. His first marriage was to Dorothy Bonvillion in 1950, which lasted but a year. They had one daughter, Susan. In 1954, Jones married Shirley Ann Corley. This marriage lasted until 1968 and they had two sons, Jeffrey and Bryan. He next married fellow country musician Tammy Wynette in 1969. They were married until 1975 and had one daughter, Tamala Georgette.

Georgette Jones, now a published country singer in her own right, has performed on stage with her famous father. He married his current wife, Nancy Sepulveda, on March 4, 1983 in Woodville, Texas. Sepulveda also became his manager. Jones credits Nancy for rescuing him from drinking, as well as cocaine consumption. The couple currently live in Franklin, Tennessee. Wives Nancy Sepulveda (March 4, 1983 â present) Tammy Wynette (February 16, 1969 â March 13, 1975) (divorced) 1 daughter Shirley Ann Corley (September 14, 1954 â June 11, 1968) (divorced) 2 sons Dorothy Bonvillion (1950 â 1951) (divorced) 1 daughter 1 - George Jones - The Window Up Above2 George Jones Dead at 81 George Jones Dead at 81 REDDIT Michael Ochs Archive One of the most iconic singers in country music history has died.

George Jones passed away Friday, April 26, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. The Country Music Hall of Fame member was 81. Born in Saratoga, Texas, in 1931, Jones was one of eight children and sang on the streets for tips as a child, in order to help his struggling family put food on the table. He taught himself how to play guitar and dreamed of one day performing at the Grand Ole Opry, which he would listen to on the radio. Jones’ teenage years were spent playing in dive bars in Beaumont, Texas, as well as a few gigs singing on local radio. He married Dorothy Bonvillion in 1950 and welcomed his first daughter, Susan, shortly after. The couple divorced a year later, and the singer joined the U.S. Marines. He was stationed in California during the Korean War but never served overseas. Jones’ first record deal came in 1953 with Starday Records. “Why Baby Why,” his very first Top 10 hit, charted in 1955, catapulting what became one of the most lauded careers in music history.

He went on to chart more than 160 singles, more than any other artist of any genre. In 1954, Jones married Shirley Ann Corley, later welcoming two sons, Jeffrey and Brian. They divorced in 1968. It was during their marriage that the country star scored his first No. 1 hit with “White Lightning.” The hits kept coming through the years, with some of his most beloved including “She Thinks I Still Care,” “Walk Through This World With Me,” “The Race Is On” and “He Stopped Loving Her Today” — which won the star a Grammy and two CMA Awards, and tops many lists of greatest country songs of all time. Jones married fellow country superstar Tammy Wynette in 1969. They had one daughter, Georgette, who has followed in her parents’ musical footsteps. Jones and Wynette recorded several duets together that are now country classics, including “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “Golden Ring” and “The Ceremony.” The famous couple divorced in 1976.

In 1983, Jones married Nancy Ford Sepulvado — the woman he credits with saving his life after years of drug and alcohol abuse. Their happy years together saw the legendary singer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 and honored with another CMA award in 1998, for his duet with Patty Loveless , “You Don’t Seem To Miss Me.” Jones was still performing right up until his death. In fact, he was in the middle of his final tour when he was hospitalized April 18 with fever and irregular blood pressure. He had been battling respiratory problems over the past few years, among other health issues. The final concert on Jones’ farewell tour was set for Nov. 22, 2013, in Nashville with a who’s who list of guest performers, including Garth Brooks , Kenny Rogers , Charlie Daniels , Randy Travis and many more. Jones is survived by his wife, Nancy, his sister, Helen Scroggins, and by his children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.

George Jones Dead at 81 - Rolling Stone George Jones Dead at 81 George Jones Dead at 81 "The world has lost the greatest country singer of all time," says friend Merle Haggard George Jones Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images All Stories George Jones , known as "the greatest voice in country music," died today at a Nashville Hospital after being hospitalized last week with a fever and irregular blood pressure, his publicist said today. He was 81 years old. "The world has lost the greatest country singer of all time," his friend Merle Haggard said in a statement to Rolling Stone.

"Amen." More News All Stories Born in Saratoga, Texas into an extremely poor household, Jones went on to 143 Top 40 country hits; fourteen went to Number One, beginning with 1959's "White Lightning," and they continued through the decades including "She Thinks I Still Care" and "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Sinatra called him "the second greatest singer in America" (second only to himself) while Keith Richards calls him "a national treasure." "If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones," Waylon Jennings once sang. "Most people's voices are a gift from God," Garth Brooks once said. "With George Jones, I think it started out as a gift from God and then they built a body around it because anybody who has ever wanted to sing country music wants to sound like George Jones." From the Archives: George Jones on How He Lived to Tell It All (1996) Growing up in East Texas, Jones quickly discovered he could sing, busking on the streets of Beaumont, emulating his heroes Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams.

He began performing on local radio and backing local stars Eddie & Pearl in the late Forties, which brought him face-to-face with Williams. Bigger success came after a stint in the Marine Corps, when Jones scored his first Top Five Hit with 1955’s rousing "Why, Baby, Why," and he stayed a relevant force throughout the Sixties and Seventies. He married fellow country star Tammy Wynette in 1969, and they recorded hits like 1976’s "Golden Ring" and 1979’s "Two Story House," even after their divorce in 1975. His 1980 heartbreak ballad "He Stopped Loving Her Today," on his comeback LP I Am What I Am, went to Number One, earned him a Grammy, Academy of Country Music Awards, and is a strong candidate for the greatest country song of all time. He had an epic career, and his offstage escapades often threatened to overshadow his accomplishments. He missed dozens of shows in the late Seventies (living up to his nickname "No Show Jones"), and in 1979 his addictions landed him in an Alabama psychiatric hospital.

In 1980, he led police on a televised chase through Nashville. In 1999, he crashed his car into a Nashville bridge and nearly died. "Through it all I kept reading articles that said I was the greatest country singer alive," he wrote in his 1996 memoir. "And singers I respect were constantly saying that too. I was always appreciative, but I never understood how such a supposedly good singer could be such a troubled person. My talent, though it brought me fame and fortune, never brought me peace of mind." But Jones never lost his ability to deliver heartbreaking country classics. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992, was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2008 and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award last year. Jones spent recent years gigging constantly and relaxing outside Nashville. "My relaxation is when I get back to my farm here in Tennessee," he told Rolling Stone in 1996. "I'm into miniature horses, and we take them to shows. We're just having a ball.

They're like pets: follow you around just like your puppy dog." Jones was in the process of ending his seven-decade career with the Grand Tour. His final Nashville concert, planned for November 22nd, was the cornerstone of the tour, with fans like Keith Richards, Jamey Johnson, Garth Brooks, Kid Rock, Kenny Rogers and more set to play with him. Jones is survived by Nancy Jones, his wife of 30 years, his sister Helen Scroggins and children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews. "I've changed my way of life. I do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and do pray often, even though I'm not a saint," he told RS. "Hopefully, we all don't have to be a saint to get into heaven." Don’t Miss a Story Sign up for our newsletter to receive breaking news directly in your inbox. We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy How we use your email address Trending Ranked on a scale from 1 to 10, the trending score reflects the number of users reading a story in real time. What is this?

George Jones dies: Country star dead at 81 after being hospitalised for fever and irregular blood pressure | Daily Mail Online comments George Jones, the peerless, hard-living country singer who recorded dozens of hits about good times and regrets and peaked with the heartbreaking classic He Stopped Loving Her Today, has died. He was 81. Jones died on Friday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, according to his publicist Kirt Webster. He had been hospitalized with fever and irregular blood pressure, forcing him to postpone two shows. With one of the most golden voices of any genre, a clenched, precise, profoundly expressive baritone, Jones had No. 1 songs in five separate decades, 1950s to 1990s. He was idolized not just by fellow country artists, but by Frank Sinatra, Pete Townshend, Elvis Costello, James Taylor and countless others. 'If we all could sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones,' Waylon Jennings once sang. Word of his death spread on Friday morning as his peers paid tribute.

Scroll down for video Sad news: Country star George Jones died on Friday at the age of 81 'The greatest voice to ever grace country music will never die,' Garth Brooks said in an email to The Associated Press. 'Jones has a place in every heart that ever loved any kind of music.' Ronnie Dunn added: 'The greatest country blues singer to ever live.' In Jones' case, that's not hyperbole. In a career that lasted more than 50 years, Possum evolved from young honky-tonker to elder statesman as he recorded more than 150 albums and became the champion and symbol of traditional country music, a well-lined link to his hero, Hank Williams. Jones survived long battles with alcoholism and drug addiction, brawls, accidents and close encounters with death, including bypass surgery and a tour bus crash that he only avoided by deciding at the last moment to take a plane. His failure to appear for concerts left him with the nickname 'No Show Jones,' and he later recorded a song by that name and often opened his shows by singing it. His wild life was revealed in song and in his handsome, troubled face, with its dark, deep-set eyes and dimpled chin.

In song, he was rowdy and regretful, tender and tragic. His hits included the sentimental Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes, the foot-tapping The Race is On, the foot-stomping I Don't Need Your Rockin' Chair, the melancholy She Thinks I Still Care, the rockin' White Lightning, and the barfly lament Still Doing Time. Jones also recorded several duets with Tammy Wynette, his wife for six years, including Golden Ring, Near You, Southern California and We're Gonna Hold On. He also sang with such peers as Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard and with Costello and other rock performers. But his signature song was He Stopped Loving Her Today, a weeper among weepers about a man who carries his love for a woman to his grave. The 1980 ballad, which Jones was sure would never be a hit, often appears on surveys as the most popular country song of all time.

Final farewell: The star, pictured in 1981, was hospitalised during what he said would be his last tour for fever and irregular blood pressure Jones won Grammy awards in 1981 for He Stopped Loving Her Today and in 1999 for Choices. He was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992 and in 2008 was among the artists honored in Washington at the Kennedy Center. Jones continued to make appearances and put out records, though his hit records declined. 'I don't want to completely quit because I don't know what to do with myself,' he said in 2005. 'I'll be out there as long as the people want me to be out there.' He was in the midst of a yearlong farewell tour when he passed away. He was scheduled to complete the tour in November with an all-star packed tribute in Nashville. Jones was a purist who lamented the transformation of country music from the family feeling of the 1950s to the hit factory of the early 21st century.

He was so caught up in country, old country, that when a record company executive suggested he record with James Taylor, Jones insisted he had never heard of the million selling singer-songwriter. He was equally unimpressed when told that Neil Young had come to visit backstage and declined to see him, saying he didn't know who he was. He did listen to the Rolling Stones, only because of the guitar playing of Keith Richards, a country fan who would eventually record with Jones. Asked about what he thought about Carrie Underwood, Taylor Swift and other young stars, Jones said they were good but they weren't making traditional country music. 'What they need to do really, I think, is find their own title,' he said. In 1991, country star Alan Jackson dedicated his hit song 'Don't Rock the Jukebox' to Jones, asking in the song that country music remain faithful to the Jones style instead of drifting toward rock `n' roll. Jones was born Sept. 12, 1931, in a log house near the east Texas town of Saratoga, the youngest of eight children. He sang in church and at age 11 began performing for tips on the streets of Beaumont, Texas.

His first outing was such a success that listeners tossed him coins, placed a cup by his side and filled it with money. Jones estimated he made more than $24 for his two-hour performance, enough to feed his family for a week, but he used up the cash at a local arcade. Family man: George is survived by wife Nancy, who he is pictured with in February 2012, and their four children 'That was my first time to earn money for singing and my first time to blow it afterward,' he recalled in 'I Lived to Tell it All,' a painfully self-critical memoir published in 1996. 'It started what almost became a lifetime trend.' The family lived in a government-subsidized housing project, and his father, a laborer, was an alcoholic who would rouse the children from bed in the middle of the night to sing for him. His father also noted that young George liked music and bought him a Gene Autry guitar, with a horse and lariat on the front, that Jones practiced on obsessively. He got his start on radio with husband and wife team Eddie & Pearl in the late 1940s.

Hank Williams once dropped by the studio to promote a new record, and Jones was invited to back him on guitar. When it came time to play, he froze. 'Hank had `Wedding Bells' out at the time,' Jones recalled in a 2003 Associated Press interview. 'He started singing it, and I never hit the first note the whole song. I just stared.' After the first of his four marriages failed, he enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1951 and served three years. He cut his first record when he got out, an original fittingly called 'No Money in This Deal.' He had his first hit with 'Why Baby Why' in 1955, and by the early `60s Jones was one of country music's top stars. 'I sing top songs that fit the hardworking, everyday loving person. That's what country music is about,' Jones said in a 1991 AP interview. 'My fans and real true country music fans know I'm not a phony.

I just sing it the way it is and put feeling in it if I can and try to live the song.' Jones was married to Wynette, his third wife, from 1969 to 1975. (Wynette died in 1998.) Their relationship played out in Nashville like a country song, with hard drinking, fights and reconciliations. Jones' weary knowledge of domestic warfare was immortalized in such classics as 'The Battle,' set to the martial beat of 'The Battle Hymn of the Republic.' Famous fans: Fellow country stars including the late Tammy Wynette, who he is pictured with here, idolised George After one argument, Jones drove off on a riding mower in search of a drink because Wynette had taken his car keys to keep him from carousing. Years earlier, married to his second wife, he had also sped off in a mower in search of a drink. Jones referred to his mowing days in the 1996 release, 'Honky Tonk Song.' His drug and alcohol abuse grew worse in the late `70s, and Jones had to file for bankruptcy in 1978.

A manager had started him on cocaine, hoping to counteract his boozy, lethargic performances, and Jones was eventually arrested in Jackson, Miss., in 1983 on cocaine possession charges. He agreed to perform a benefit concert and was sentenced to six months probation. 'In the 1970s, I was drunk the majority of the time,' Jones wrote in his memoir. 'If you saw me sober, chances are you saw me asleep.' In 1980, a 3-minute song changed his life. His longtime producer, Billy Sherrill, recommended he record He Stopped Loving Her Today, a ballad by Curly Putnam and Bobby Braddock. The song took more than a year to record, partly because Jones couldn't master the melody, which he confused with Kris Kristofferson's'Help Me Make it Through the Night, and partly because he was too drunk to recite a brief, spoken interlude ('She came to see him one last time/And we all wondered if she would/And it kept running through my mind/This time he's over her for good.') 'Pretty simple, eh?' Jones wrote in his memoir. 'I couldn't get it.

I had been able to sing while drunk all of my life. I'd fooled millions of people. But I could never speak without slurring when drunk. What we needed to complete that song was the narration, but Billy could never catch me sober enough to record four simple spoken lines.' Jones was convinced the song was too 'morbid' to catch on. But He Stopped Loving Her Today, featuring a string section that hummed, then soared, became an instant standard and virtually canonized him. His concert fee jumped from $2,500 a show to $25,000. 'There is a God,' he recalled. In 1983, Jones married his fourth and final wife, Nancy Sepulveda, whom he credited with stablizing his private life. He had four children, one with first wife Dorothy Bonvillion, two with second wife Shirley Ann Corley and one with Wynette. His daughter with Wynette, Georgette Jones, became a country singer and even played her mother in the 2008 TV series Sordid Lives. Country legend: George was best known for his hit He Stopped Loving Her Today and had a hugely successful career spanning over 50 years

Question: Who married fellow country star George Jones in 1969
Answer: Tammy Wynette